Life in Silver Linings

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The apathy of the slightly icky

If I cared to think about it deeply I’d probably be quite interested in the wider effects of feeling ever-so-slightly sorry for yourself.

I might be tempted to examine how being a little bit poorly makes you want to curl up with your head under the covers in spite of how many wonderful things are out in the Big Wide World. Or even how it shortens your shrift with the problems of the rest of humanity – yes, deep down you still care that people are hurt and in need, but at the moment it’s your needs which are the main consideration.

I’d probably be keen to draw links between the way we can get attacks of the ‘Poor Me’s when unwell and relate it to something bigger like our fundamental need for society and company and friends-and-relations to give us a boost when we’re under the weather.

I also might like to point out the heroic way in which those who are going it alone (single parents, hermits, career people without family close by and no time to make friends, the disenfranchised, the homeless) manage to suck it up and stoically get on with life when feeling unwell…

…but at the moment I’m a little bit ill and I don’t really feel I can bring myself to think about it very much.